The race for the Football Kenya Federation NEC member for Nairobi county is set to be a hotly contested affair with the late entrance of experienced football administrator Tom Alila into the race.
Alila, who served in the administration prior to the entrance of the Nick Mwendwa-led office, will clash with outgoing Nairobi East branch chairman Michael Ouma and Kawangware-based Kakamega United founder Isaac Macharia.
“We had a meeting and decided with my team to vie for NEC Nairobi. We have a formation that will surprise people. As I said, I can serve in any capacity. We did our calculations on the delegates and strongly feel this is a seat we will win,” asserted Alila who expressed satisfaction with the delegates list thus far comprising of KPL clubs, NSL clubs and women Premier League clubs.
On his part, Macharia insisted having played the game as a youth and sponsored several clubs he was best suited to lead.
“I have the experience of running football in Nairobi. I have also served as an ex-officio member of the Aberdare branch. My decision to run is to bring sanity in terms of corporate leadership and accountability in the management of the game,” Macharia said while urging the decision of the FKF board led by Kentice Tikolo to be respected.
On his part, Ouma a 20-year veteran of running football in the country, welcomed the opposition to a seat many had expected to be a walkover for him following the exit of Chris Amimo.
“What we want is for everyone to get a chance to sell his manifesto to the clubs and then let them decide who they prefer to take the game forward instead of the never ending court cases,” said Ouma.
All the other NEC positions including Tony Kweya (Western), Joseph Andere (Nyanza), Muriithi Nabeya (Eastern), Gabriel Mghendi (Coast), David Chege (Central), Ahmad Dabbar (North Eastern), Bernard Langat (Upper Rift) and David Bunei(Lower Rift) stood unopposed.
